Sudanese civil war (2023–present) in the context of "Sudanese Navy"

Play Trivia Questions online!

or

Skip to study material about Sudanese civil war (2023–present) in the context of "Sudanese Navy"




⭐ Core Definition: Sudanese civil war (2023–present)

Since 15 April 2023, there has been an active civil war in Sudan between two rival factions of the country's military government. The conflict involves the internationally recognized government controlled by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and consisting of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Republican Guard; and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by General Hemedti, who leads the broader Janjaweed coalition. Several smaller armed groups have also taken part. Fighting began on 15 April 2023 after a power struggle within the military government that had taken power following the October 2021 coup. The conflict has caused nearly 12 million people to be forcibly displaced, both inside Sudan and across its borders, making it one of the largest displacement crises in recent history.

Fighting was largely concentrated in the capital, Khartoum, where the conflict began with the Battle of Khartoum, and in the Darfur region. Many civilians in Darfur have been reported dead as part of the Masalit genocide, which have been described as ethnic cleansing or genocide. Sudan has been described as facing the world's worst humanitarian crisis; nearly 25 million people are experiencing extreme hunger according to UN estimates. On 7 January 2025, the United States said it had determined that the RSF and allied militias committed genocide.

↓ Menu

In this Dossier

Sudanese civil war (2023–present) in the context of 2025

2025 (MMXXV) is the current year, and is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2025th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 25th year of the 3rd millennium and the 21st century, and the 6th year of the 2020s decade.

So far, the year has seen an escalation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began peace negotiations involving Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. The Gaza war, including a famine and humanitarian crisis, as well as the Sudanese civil war, also continued throughout the year. Internal crises in Armenia, Bangladesh, Ecuador, France, Georgia, Germany, Haiti, Peru, Somalia, and South Korea continued into this year, with the latter leading to President Yoon Suk Yeol's arrest and removal from office. The year has also seen a wave of protests predominantly led by Generation Z, with some, like those in Nepal and Madagascar, resulting in the overthrow of governments. Several brief conflicts out of longstanding tensions emerged mid-year—India–Pakistan in May, Iran–Israel in June, and Cambodia–Thailand in July, in which a leaked phone call involving Thai prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and Cambodian senate president Hun Sen resulted in the removal of the former.

↑ Return to Menu

Sudanese civil war (2023–present) in the context of Government of Sudan

The Government of Sudan is the federal provisional government created by the Constitution of Sudan having executive, parliamentary, and the judicial branches. Previously, a president was head of state, head of government, and commander-in-chief of the Sudanese Armed Forces in a de jure multi-party system. Legislative power was officially vested in both the government and in the two houses – the National Assembly (lower) and the Council of States (upper) – of the bicameral National Legislature. The judiciary is independent and obtained by the Constitutional Court.

However, following the Second Sudanese Civil War and the ongoing genocide in Darfur, Sudan was widely recognized as a totalitarian state where all effective political power was held by President Omar al-Bashir and his National Congress Party (NCP). However, al-Bashir and the NCP were ousted in a military coup on April 11, 2019. The government of Sudan was then led by the Transitional Military Council (TMC). On 20 August 2019, the TMC dissolved, giving its authority over to the Transitional Sovereignty Council, who were planned to govern for 39 months until 2022, in the process of transitioning to democracy. However, the Sovereignty Council and the Sudanese government were dissolved in October 2021, when General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan seized power in a coup d'état, dissolved the Sovereignty Council, and reconstituted it the following month with new membership, keeping himself as chairman.

↑ Return to Menu

Sudanese civil war (2023–present) in the context of Sudanese Armed Forces

The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF; Arabic: القوات المسلحة السودانية, romanizedAl-Qūwāt Al-Musallaḥah as-Sūdāniyah) are the military forces of the Republic of Sudan. The force strength has been estimated at 109,300 personnel in 2011 (by IISS), 200,000 personnel before the current war in Sudan broke out in 2023 (by the CIA), and 300,000 personnel in 2024 (by Al Jazeera).

In 2016–2017, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had 40,000 members participating in the Yemeni Civil War (of which 10,000 returned to Sudan by October 2019). As of 2025, the SAF and RSF remain in armed conflict against one another in the ongoing civil war in Sudan.

↑ Return to Menu

Sudanese civil war (2023–present) in the context of Darfur genocide (2023–present)

The Darfur genocide, also known as the second Darfur genocide, is an ongoing series of persecutions and mass killings of non-Arabs in Darfur carried out by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and its allies during the Sudanese civil war. The genocidal campaign started on 15 April 2023 in conjunction with civil war between the RSF and Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). The RSF and allied militias began committing organized massacres of non-Arab civilians in all states of Darfur, with the largest occurring throughout 2023 against the Masalit people in the area of Geneina, West Darfur. The genocide has been recognized by Genocide Watch, the government of the United States, and American academic Eric Reeves.

↑ Return to Menu

Sudanese civil war (2023–present) in the context of Rapid Support Forces

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF; Arabic: قوات الدعم السريع, romanizedQuwwāt ad-daʿm as-sarīʿ) are a Sudanese paramilitary force formerly operated by the Sudanese government. They originated as auxiliary force militias known as the Janjaweed used by the Sudanese government during the War in Darfur, which the government later restructured as a paramilitary organization in August 2013 under the command of Muhammad Dagalo, the current leader of the RSF, better known as Hemedti. Since 2023, they have been fighting a civil war against the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) for control of the country, after having taken power along with the SAF in a military coup in 2021. As of 2025, they have established a parallel government with their allies called the Government of Peace and Unity to rule over the territories under their control.

The RSF's motives are widely characterized by academics, journalists, and other local and international observers as Arab supremacist and economic in nature. Their forces have been documented committing war crimes on a vast scale against members of non-Arab ethnicities in Darfur and against Northern Sudanese Arabs (Ja'alin and Shaigiya) in Khartoum state and Gezira State because of their perceived support of the Sudanese Armed Forces. Many of the RSF’s fighters come from Baggara Arab tribes residing in the Darfur region of Sudan, Chad or elsewhere in the “Baggara belt” of the Sahel. Their fighters are largely recruited as mercenaries, with funding coming from the capture of gold mines and patronage by corporate and state actors; the group has also hired out its fighters as mercenaries to fight in conflicts and assist governments outside Sudan. As a result of these activities, the leaders of the RSF have become some of the richest people in the country. The RSF has adopted an anti-Islamist stance in its public relations, and has claimed its new state will be a secular democracy with a bill of rights, but these postures have been met with widespread skepticism by observers given the RSF's behavior on the ground.

↑ Return to Menu